Dale Jr. comments on the demise of the #8From a team Chevy Dale Earnhardt Jr. press conference Transcript:

IS IT SAD THAT THERE IS NO NUMBER EIGHT AT THE TRACK THIS WEEKEND? “I’m pretty sad, but I don’t think it will be gone for long. I read a lot of the input that you guys (media) had all week and sort of got the temperature of what the press was thinking and what the fans were thinking. The one thing that I kept thinking about when I was reading those articles was how glad I was that Robert (Yates) and Doug (Yates) and everybody at Yates -- that they were willing to work with me on the 88 because I don’t have any malice about what Teresa’s (Earnhardt) decision was on keeping that number.

“If I was in her shoes I probably would have done the exact same thing and that has been the case with every other owner in the past. That’s what the understanding is that the number belongs to them and I understood that. I really wasn’t as upset about it as a lot of people probably thought I was and it wasn’t as ugly of a situation as a lot of people felt like it was. I was glad that I found Robert (Yates) and the guys willing to talk about the 88 because that was a number with a ton of history and something that I could really wrap my hands around and get excited about. The eight will be back and someone else will add to it and do something great with it and hopefully it’s Ganassi and Teresa (Earnhardt). Hopefully they can get it back on the race track and I wouldn’t ever count them out. It’s a tough economy. I just wish them all the success and I wish that they will get that car funded to where Aric (Almirola) can get back on the race track, he’s a super guy and needs to be out on the race track with us and I think it’s small pieces to the puzzle really. I don’t think it’s something that’s going to be permanent, hopefully.”

DO YOU THINK YOUR GRANDMA (MARTHA EARNHARDT) IS UPSET ABOUT THE NUMBER NOT BEING HERE? [Should have asked do you think your great father is rolling over in his grave?]

“No, not at all. She especially, we have been around this sport for a long time and you have to get used to change and I’ve worked with a lot of different people. Some I wish today I was still working with, but circumstances prevented that and you have to be able to let go of that and move on and try to do the best you can. That’s the same way in every situation in this sport. Yes I wish I would have never had to have changed numbers -- I had to under the circumstances and I am happy to have the opportunity to use the 88 and I hope I do a good job with it for all the guys that have used it in the past. That’s really the only thing that I think about right now. Having that number there’s a little bit of responsibility with it because it was pretty historic so I must concentrate on that, you know?” Chevy/GM PR

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